1. What is Psychology? Definition of psychology
Philosophical issues in psychology
What psychologists do
Historical figures in Psychology

2. Definition of Psychology
Psychology can be broadly defined as the systematic study of behavior and experience.
Researchers use scientific methods to study behavior
Psychologists study both humans and animals
Researchers main goal is to understand human behavior, and the factors that cause that behavior.
The definition from your book
The science of behavior and mental processes.
Keep in mind mental processes can only be inferred from behavior

3. Philosophical Issues in Psychology
Free Will vs Determinism
The Mind Brain Problem
Nature-Nurture Issue

4. Freewill vs Determinism
the assumption that everything that happens has a cause, or determinant, in the observable world.
Freewill
belief that behavior is caused by a person’s independent decisions, not be external determinants.

5. The Mind-Brain Problem
The philosophical question of how experience is related to the brain.
Also known as the Mind-Body Problem
Dualism
The idea that there is a Mind that is separate from the Brain
Descartes

6. Mind-Brain problem Most modern scientists are monists.
The mind and brain are one entity.
Most biological scientists would say that it is the function of the brain that produces the sensation of mind.
Many people probably still maintain a dualistic position.

7. The Nature-Nurture issue
What are the roles of heredity and environment in the development of various behaviors.
Do we act the way we do because-
we were born that way
we learned to act that way

8. What Psychologists Do Psychologists in Teaching and Research
Clinical Psychologists and Other Psychotherapists
Nonclinical Applied Psychology

9. Psychologists in Teaching and Research
Biological Psychology
Tries to explain behavior in terms of biological factors
electrical and chemical activities in the nervous system
effects of drugs and hormones
genetics
evolutionary pressures
Brain damage
Right Parietal Lobe
Contralateral neglect

10. Learning and Behavior How do we learn and remember things?
Studies how behavior depends on the outcomes of past behaviors and on current motivations.
How do the consequences of an action affect behavior?
reward?
punishment?

11. Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Psychology is concerned with the internal mental processes that affect behavior.
Reaction against strict behaviorism.
Our internal mental representations can affect how we think and act as much as external variables.
How does a person think through a problem?
Do they use certain strategies?
The cube study

13. Developmental Psychology
Studies the behavioral capacities typical of different ages and how behavior changes with age.
Piaget - Conservation of volume study.
Preschooler may not do well
a seven year old should do well

14. Social Psychology
The study of how others influence the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of the individual.
Milgram’s authority studies
The bystander effect

15. Clinical Psychologists and other Psychotherapists
Psychiatrists
Psychoanalysts

16. Clinical Psychologists
A type of psychotherapist that specializes in helping people with psychological problems
Have an advanced degree in psychology (Ph.D.)

17. Psychiatry
A branch of medicine that deals with emotional disturbances.
First earn an M.D.
Then four years residency in psychiatry
Psychiatry and clinical psychology perform similar services - listen, and try to help.
Psychiatrist can prescribe drugs, psychologist cannot.

18. Psychoanalyst
Psychotherapists who rely heavily on the theories and methods of Sigmund Freud
mostly psychiatrists, but some clinical psychologists also adhere to Freudian theory.

19. Nonclinical applied psychology
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Ergonomics
School Psychology

20. Industrial/Organizational Psychology
The study of people at work.
Who to hire, who to fire, who to promote
how to make work conditions better
how to increase productivity
how to decrease employee absence

21. Ergonomics
An ergonomist attempts to facilitate the operation of machinery so that the average user can use it as efficiently and as safely as possible.
Combines psychology and engineering
Cockpits of fighter planes
Operations of a stove
Doors

22. School Psychology
Specialists in the psychological condition of students, usually kindergarten through highschool.
Administer tests for psychological and scholastic aptitude
Implement programs to help students that are having trouble, and make school better for those that are gifted.

23. Psychology Then and Now
Early Psychology ( )
Behaviorism( ’s)
Current era (1960’s - on)

24. Early Psychology
Wundt
Titchener
William James
Darwin

25. Wilhelm Wundt Set up first psychology laboratory in 1879
considered the father of psychology
used introspection
presented subjects with stimuli (lights, tones, textures), and asked them to think about and explain how they felt when experiencing these things.

26. Edward B.Titchener and Structuralism
Titchener was Wundt’s student
wanted to know the nature of mental experiences
He called their approach structuralism
an attempt to describe the structures that compose the mind
Asked observers to look at an object and describe it’s separate features.
Redness of an apple.

27. William James and Functionalism
The founder of American Psychology
Wrote The Principles of Psychology (1890)
Focused on the actions that the mind performs, rather then the ideas the mind has.
He called his approach functionalism
how does the mind produce useful behaviors

28. Good psychological questions according to James
How many objects can a person attend to at once?
How can people increase good habits?
How do people recognize they have seen something before?

29. Charles Darwin
Darwin argued that all animals (including humans) had common ancestors.
It now became logical to study other animals behavior and compare that behavior to other animals and humans.
Things we learn from studying a rat, could now be used to infer things about humans.

30. Theory of Evolution
There is diversity in living things even within a species
We don't all look alike
We don't all behave alike
Those traits can be passed on from parent to offspring
Darwin didn't know how.
Mendel did = Genes
There is a struggle to survive
Many organism mass produce offspring and few make it.
There is high infant mortality for humans as well in some places

31. Theory of Evolution
Organisms that are best suited to their environment have a survival advantage
Doesn't necessarily mean the strongest
At times it might be good to be small and quiet (early mammals)
Survival of the fittest
Those with a survival advantage will produce more offspring and pass their traits on to those offspring, thus the population will begin to have those particular traits
Natural selection
Already known from "unnatural selection" breeding techniques
Large boar with large sow = large piglet.

32. Behaviorism John B. Watson B.F. Skinner
founded behaviorism - a field of psychology that concentrates on observable, measurable behaviors, and not on mental processes.
B.F. Skinner
implemented behaviorism

33. Environmental determinism S-R psychology
Watson – give me an infant
S-R psychology
Mind is a black box
Radical behaviorism
Beyond freedom and dignity
Walden II
Mind is a locus of variables (poem)
Little Albert

34. Current Era
The rest of this class will discuss the current era of psychology

35. Scientific Methods in Psychology
Science in General
Scientific Methods in Psychology

36. Science in General
Can we prove things to be true by using scientific methods?
Steps for gathering and evaluating evidence
What makes a good Theory?

37. Can we prove something by using scientific methods?
The simple answer is no.
Proofs are left to philosophers and mathematicians.
Scientists are only probably certain about their findings.
However converging evidence moves us toward certainty
Scientists set up situations in such a way that it is very unlikely that their conclusion is wrong, however it is still possible the conclusion is wrong.
Something you haven’t thought of yet is affecting things
Discuss Flat Earth – Round Earth – Squashed Earth

38. Steps for Gathering and Evaluating Evidence
Hypothesis
An educated guess
Often comes from prior research
Must be testable
Method
results
Interpretation

39. Replicability Another important concept for science is replication
Replication means repeatability
Anyone should be able to get the same result that you achieved, by following the same methodology (procedures) that you used.
Cold fusion (1989)- producing nuclear energy without using high temperatures, and without dangerous byproducts.

40. What is a good scientific theory?
Theories - are comprehensive explanations of observable events.
should predict new observations
should be falsifiable (discussed more below)
should be parsimonious (discussed more below)

41. Theories should be falsifiable
Freud says that one issue all males have to deal with is the fact that they were sexually attracted to their mother when they were young.
If I were to meet Freud I would tell him I don’t remember lusting for my mother.
What would Freud say?

42. Theories should be parsimonious
Principle of Parsimony
Scientists should prefer the theory that explains the results using the simplest assumptions.
Try to adhere as much as possible to what we already believe (conservative approach).
Shouldn’t we be open minded?
Yes, be willing to entertain other ideas, but this does not mean all ideas have an equal chance of being true.

43. Clever Hans - an example of parsimony and open-mindedness
Hans (a horse) could
count
add, subtract, multiply, and divide
add fractions, and convert decimals to fractions
knew the value of German coins

44. Oskar Pfungst
Is it parsimonious to believe that Hans was indeed this intelligent?

45. Scientific Methods in Psychology
Observational research designs
Naturalistic observations
Case Histories
Surveys
Correlational Studies
Experiments
Independent variables
Operational definitions
Dependent variables
Random Assignment
Demand Characteristics
Experimenter Bias
Ethical considerations

46. Observational Research Designs
Naturalistic Observation
A careful examination of what many people or nonhuman animals do under more or less natural conditions.
Jane Goodall
The homeless

47. Case Histories
A thorough description of a rare condition, or unusual person. It focuses on a single individual.
It is an observational technique.
Relies on the skills of the observer - as does naturalistic observation.

48. Surveys
A study of the prevalence of certain beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors, based on people’s responses to specific questions.
Sampling is very important here.

49. Samples of the population
Random Sample
every individual in the population has an equal chance of being selected
Random samples are Representative Samples
closely resembles the entire population in its percentage of gender, race, age, or whatever other characteristics are likely to affect the results.

50. Samples continued Convenience sample
A sample that is chosen simply because it was easy to get them to participate.
Why would you ever use random sampling if convenience sampling is so easy?
External Validity or Generalizability

51. Correlational Studies
A measure of the relationship between two variables, which are both outside the investigators control (simply measured).
Correlation varies from -1 to +1
Closer to +1 or -1 the stronger the correlation
Correlation between height and weight
Correlation between height and IQ

52. Correlation and Causation
Let’s say I have found a negative correlation between a measure of self esteem and number of sessions required for therapy to be effective.
Would a subject with high self-esteem require more or less therapy sessions then a person with low self esteem?

53. Correlation Cont.
Does this mean that level of self esteem determines how much therapy a person might need?
Direction of causality problem
3rd variable problem.

54. Experiments
A study in which the investigator manipulates at least one variable while measuring at least one other variable.
Must have at least two groups.
Groups are treated exactly the same except for one thing. That one thing that differs among groups is your Independent Variable

55. Independent Variable
The item that an experimenter manipulates (changes or controls) is the independent variable
Question: does caffeine cause nervous behavior?
What would be the Independent Variable?
It needs an operational definition?

56. Operational definition
A definition that specifies the operations (or procedures) used to produce or measure something, a way to give it a numerical value.
What is Hunger?
What is Aggression?
What is Intelligence?
What is caffeine exposure?

57. Dependent Variable
The behavior (variable) that an experimenter measures to determine how it was affected is the dependent variable
question: does caffeine cause nervous behavior?
What is the dependent variable?
Does it need an operational definition?

58. Experimental Group, Control Group, and Random Assignment
In a simple experiment with 2 levels of one Independent variable we have….
an Experimental Group
the group that receives the treatment that an experiment is designed to test.
A Control Group
a set of individuals treated in the same way as the experimental group except for the procedure that the experiment is designed to test.

59. Experimental vs Control groups continued
For our caffeine example it would be simplest to give one group a caffeine pill (experimental group), and give a second group a pill made up of all the same stuff except for the caffeine (control group).
Would it matter how we assigned individuals to groups?

60. Random Assignment
What if we assigned the front half of the room to the experimental condition and the back half of the room to the control condition?
To control for differences of people in the front vs. people in the back, we must use random assignment.

61. Demand Characteristics
An issue that one must look out for when running experiments is the issue of demand characteristics
cues that tell subjects what is expected of them and what the experimenter hopes to find.
Another term for demand characteristic is the placebo effect
Studies on demand characteristics by Martin Orne
The paper study
sensory deprivation

62. Experimenter Bias
Another issue that experimenter’s must look out for is experimenter bias
This occurs when the experimenters expectations affect the results of the study.

63. Robert Rosenthal IQ test in grade school class room
Told teacher it identified intellectual bloomers
The bloomers were selected at random
They were average students
Rosenthal told the teacher who the bloomers were
He came back at the end of the year and measured all of the students IQs again

64. Rosenthal and experimenter bias cont.
Student experimenters
Maze bright rats
Maze dull rats
Which group did better?

65. Experimenter Bias Cont.
Why do we get experimenter bias?
What can we do about it?
Single blind studies, a study where either the observer or the subjects are unaware of which subjects received which treatment.
Double blind studies, a study where both the observer and the subjects are unaware of which subjects received which treatment.

66. Ethical considerations
Human studies
Informed consent
deception
debriefing
Animal studies
Institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC).
American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines.